


Wake Up and Smell the Kool-Aid

by cunzy4, HappyFazzbearPonies2



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: "We hate you Daniel!", Alcoholism, Also Adoption AU because we need a little bit of sunshine in this fucking dark fic, Blood, Broken innocence, Camp Camp spoilers, Comfort, Cuddles, David adopts max, Depression, Everyone hates Daniel!, Gen, Gwen is pissed, Hugs, Human Sacrifice, Kidnapping, Life-long scars, Max adopts David, Max is an angry bean, Nightmares in later chapters, Pentagrams, Sad Nature Dad, Slight Starvation, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Torture, dadvid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2018-12-14 17:08:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 16,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11787621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cunzy4/pseuds/cunzy4, https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappyFazzbearPonies2/pseuds/HappyFazzbearPonies2
Summary: Daniel's out for revenge, and he's set his sights on a naive, gullible, innocent ball of sunshine named David.Max will not stand for this. Nobody is allowed to traumatize David but Max.David narrowly survives being sacrificed to Daniel's gods, but his optimism does not. After his unfailingly positive attitude has been destroyed, it's up to Max and Gwen to pick up the pieces.





	1. The Cultist's Revenge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we have another horribly sad story, because Fazz and I can't focus on a fic for more than a week at a time without being sucked into yet another fandom. And we're monsters who enjoy tormenting our beans.  
> One of these days we will finish writing a story before we start another.  
> Today is not that day.

David woke up with a sharp gasp.

The first sensation he was aware of was a blinding pain in the back of his head. With a pained groan that caught in his throat and turned into a whimper, he tried to roll over in his bed to ask Gwen if she could watch the kids so he could take the morning off.

But he couldn’t roll over because he wasn’t in his bed.

In fact, he wasn’t anywhere he recognized at all.

Through the tear-blurred haze of pain, David realized he was alone in a pitch-black room. The chill seeped through his knees from the bare concrete floor. His hands were tied painfully behind his back- wait, where had his shirt gone?- around some sort of post embedded in the floor.

It was cold. It was  _so_ cold. The air seemed to clench at his skin and leech his strength away, leaving him numb. His brain refused to focus, his thoughts scattered like broken glass. He recognized the symptoms of a concussion.

The utter confusion was slowly replaced by fear as David realized that he was not, in fact, dreaming. He was really here. Someone had _put_ him here. Somehow, he had been kidnapped from the camp right in front of the kids- _the kids!_

David's body jolted painfully as a wave of terror on behalf of his campers overwhelmed him. If he was in trouble, were his kids safe? Had they been kidnapped too? Would Gwen be able to take care of them by herself even if they weren't in danger? Mr. Campbell was depending on him to be in charge of the camp. He could _not_ let his kids down now.

He twisted his wrists experimentally, but his lifetime as a woodsman was no match for the mass of knots that pinned his arms behind the wooden post. The only result of his struggles was that the ropes had begun to chafe at the skin of his wrists.

Around that time, it occurred to David to scream for help. The concrete walls of the basement seemed to swallow his voice as he screamed himself hoarse until he fell silent, gasping and coughing. His head drooped forward as he struggled to regain his breath. The action pulled painfully at his already raw wrists. His sore head throbbed with renewed pain.

 _Okay, David,_ he said to himself silently. _This… isn’t the best situation, but you have to stay positive. You ALWAYS stay positive no matter what, remember? All you have to do is hold on, and I’m sure someone will come for you soon._

With that, he tried to wriggle into a slightly less uncomfortable position. His knees were starting to hurt from the concrete floor, but he ignored it and began whistling a camp song.

Six hours later, more or less, David’s stomach was starting to growl. His mouth was too dry to whistle any more, and his knees were _really_ starting to hurt from being stuck in the same position for so long.

 _Stay positive,_ he commanded himself even as his fingers slowly grew numb. _Just stay positive._

After another hour or two, he lapsed into a fitful sleep. Every time he jerked awake with a pained groan, he tried to force himself to focus on the bright side. _It’s not safe for a person with a concussion to sleep for too long at a time,_ he rationalized. _It’s a good thing that I keep waking up like this._

As the hours continued to drag on, David found it harder to find happy things to think about. Closing his eyes to block out the bleak reality, he pictured himself in a happier place. _Hiking along the lake, with happy campers following along. Birds are singing, and so are we. Even Max is smiling._

_Max…_

David’s throat constricted as he thought of his least happy camper. _I hope he’s doing alright without me… I hope he isn’t getting himself into too much trouble…_

The thought briefly occurred to him that his predicament could be the result of a mean-spirited prank from Max, but he dismissed it firmly. Max may have been an irascible scamp, but there was no way he would go this far for the likes of a prank. No, Max was certainly not responsible.

But then… who was?

The silent, empty basement offered no answers.

* * *

 

It had been, as far as David could tell, two days.

His empty stomach twisted painfully. He was lightheaded from thirst, and his wrists and knees were scraped raw and dripping blood.

Still, _still,_ he forced himself to stay positive. Getting depressed now would only make everything worse, and David had no intention of giving up so quickly. Come what may, he was determined to face everything with an upbeat attitude. Even if it meant starving merrily to death alone in a pitch-black basement. Even if it meant never seeing Gwen again... or Max...

Out of nowhere, the room was abruptly flooded with light as the door opened. David flinched back, hissing as the light burned his eyes, until the door at the top of the staircase closed again and a set of footsteps approached him.

“H-hello?” David’s voice cracked pathetically. “Who’s there?”

“Aww, David,” a mock-disappointed voice echoed from the blackness. “And here I thought you’d recognize your old pal.”

At that, a flashlight switched on to illuminate an all-too-familiar grinning face at a dramatic angle.

“D-daniel?” David choked. “What are you doing here?”

David hadn't seen his cheery doppelgänger since he had been rushed to the hospital. He had tried to track Daniel down afterward, but the blond man had seemed to vanish from the hospital into thin air.

Now, though... Daniel wasn't the same clean-cut, cheerful man David remembered from camp. His blond hair was a wild tangle, his white outfit torn and stained with... was that blood?

Most unsettling was the maniacal grin on Daniel's face. He giggled hysterically, the flashlight bouncing with the movement. “Really? _Really?_ What do you _think_ I’m doing here? Delivering your newspaper?”

David's head spun as he tried to comprehend what had happened. How could the eager counselor he remembered have turned into such a... ruffian? “A-are you saying… you’re the one who k-kidnapped me?”

Even as he said it, he didn't believe it, but Daniel was still laughing. “Aww, David, I thought you’d be smarter than this. Did you seriously still think I was a nice guy? Even after I tried to _kill everyone in your camp?”_

“You _what?”_ David stammered. “But- you were just-”

Daniel laughed so loudly that he dropped the flashlight, the entire basement half-lit in the diffuse glow as it rolled into the corner of the basement. “Ha- haha- oh, _David,_ can one person really be so naive? You- you _honestly_ thought- all that time, you never caught on, even after-”

He doubled over in another fit of laughter, too overcome with mirth to speak. Just as suddenly, he stopped laughing.

“That insufferable _brat_ was the only one who saw right through me,” Daniel spat. “Because you were so _gullible,_ so utterly _trusting,_ that you were blinder than a ten-year-old kid, I would have killed the whole bunch of them.”

“No-” David whimpered, unable to stop the tears that now flowed freely down his cheeks. “I- I didn’t-”

He choked off as Daniel leaned uncomfortably close, their faces practically touching. David could feel Daniel’s shaky breaths as he giggled again.

“But since I couldn’t sacrifice your dear campers after all, _David,”_ Daniel hissed so, _so_ quietly, “I guess you’ll have to _take their place!”_

He screamed the last words as David cringed away, but Daniel roughly grabbed David’s hair and forced his head up as he held a twisted knife to David’s neck. The tip of the knife slid across David’s throat down to his chest, drifting almost playfully over his collarbones.

“D-daniel, please,” David begged, shuddering with fear. “Th-this isn’t funny, can’t we t-talk about this-”

He flinched as Daniel leaned in closer, reaching behind him with the knife to cleanly slice the strand of rope that kept his wrists tied to each other. David slumped forward, unable to catch himself, only to land in Daniel’s arms.

“Are you ready?” Daniel giggled softly, his lips against David’s ear as he tried unsuccessfully to squirm away. “You’re the perfect sacrifice- so _pure,_ so innocent- I’m not even disappointed I didn’t get to kill your kids.”

David choked as Daniel’s free hand grabbed him by the throat. Daniel rose to his feet, dragging David with him, and threw him to the ground again.

David landed painfully face-first on the basement floor, unable to catch himself with arms that felt like limp noodles. As he struggled to pick himself up, he felt Daniel pacing a slow circle around him.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean I can’t kill them anyway once we’re done here!” Daniel cackled.

It wasn’t until Daniel kicked him onto his back that David realized Daniel had lit a circle of candles around the two of them. Too quickly, the room began to fill with an odd hazy smoke that choked David’s lungs with a suffocating heaviness.

“N-no-” he gasped before he was overwhelmed by weak, rattling coughs.

Daniel was still laughing as he straddled David, raising the knife and slashing it across his chest. David let out a strangled scream, choking and crying as Daniel dragged the knife through David's flesh.

 The pain was excruciating. David struggled to scream, to throw Daniel off, but he couldn't breathe, he couldn't think, he couldn't-

Daniel’s face looked truly demonic, illuminated by the flickering candlelight in the red smoke. He was grinning maniacally, chanting under his breath in Latin as he unhurriedly carved a pentagram into the weakly struggling David.

David’s vision was fading. He couldn’t breathe, or move, or think, and the choking smoke seemed to be weighing him down until he sank into the floor. Dimly, as though from far away, he felt his own blood draining out onto the concrete, he heard Daniel still chanting, but now everything was dark and heavy and he couldn’t recall who… or why… or…

Daniel’s face was nothing but a dim shape down a long tunnel when the door was broken down and the room was once again flooded with light.

 _“Hey, you idiots! He’s down here! I found him!”_ a different voice shouted distantly. _“Get your asses over here!”_ The voice was familiar, but David couldn’t quite place who it belonged to.

David barely noticed several overlapping voices shouting angrily, or Daniel being thrown off of him, or being lifted somewhere and a mask being placed over his face. He felt weirdly floaty, and he couldn’t quite recall the importance of the flashing lights, or the hand that gripped his and the panicked voice that kept saying his name, or any of the other voices that were saying a lot of things.

The shouting was replaced with sirens and someone was poking at the wounds on his chest, which hurt, he really should say something but he didn’t quite remember which muscles to move in order to speak.

In any case, he felt as though a warm, fuzzy blanket was being wrapped tightly around his entire body and weighing him down. He tried again to say say something, but he was suddenly so tired and sleeping seemed like a really good idea right about now…

As Gwen rode with him in the ambulance, David drifted into a drugged slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That day will never come at this rate, Cunzy.
> 
> We are and we are ashamed of it. WHY DO WE HURT THE MOST PRECIOUS BEANS FOR. WE'RE MONSTERS.


	2. We're Missing Something Tall and Annoying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max is both the first to notice David is missing, and the person who cares the least.  
> Of course, that doesn't mean he won't ensure David gets home safely.  
> No matter what it takes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELP.  
> Fazz was supposed to write this chapter, but she ran out of time so I wrote the bulk of it. Can you notice the difference between our styles? :D

For the first time Max could remember, he didn’t wake up to the sound of David’s annoying voice singing at the top of his lungs just outside the tent. He shifted in his sleeping bag enough to find Neil and Nikki still fast asleep, Neil clutching a calculator and Nikki drooling slightly. Idly, he wondered if he'd actually woken up before David’s usual wake-up call for once.

Feeling absolutely no inclination to get up, Max just lay there and stared at the roof of the tent.

* * *

Max frowned as he picked up the noises of a certain nerd waking up.

“Morning, Max,” Neil yawned as he untangled himself from his sleeping bag. Max didn’t look his way.

“Hey… Max…” Neil said drowsily as he got to his feet, “do you feel like something is different today? I feel like something was supposed to happen by now.”

Max scowled, still staring up at the ceiling, “David didn’t wake us up.” Max kicked himself out of his own sleeping bag, still wearing his clothes from the day before.

“That is strange,” Neil nodded in agreement, but he seemed to be too distracted stepping carefully over Nikki to be completely absorbed in the conversation. Both Max and Neil had learned the hard way not to disturb Nikki in her sleep, and had the bite marks to prove it.

"Not to jinx it, but it looks like we might have a morning off for once." Max snatched his blue sweatshirt from the floor and struggled into it. "Unless, of course, David is waiting right outside to pounce on us for a forcible sing-along or something equally shitty."

"Cool. Wanna sneak into the forest and roast ants with a magnifying glass?" Neil suggested.

"Sure, why not."

"What about breakfast?" Nikki whined from the floor, squinting at the boys sleepily.

Max and Neil shared a glance before Max sighed heavily. "I'll go find David."

* * *

Max trudged irritably up to David’s cabin door and knocked loudly. “Hey, David, David! Are you in there?” he shouted.

After receiving no response, Max rounded the front step and peeked through the window beside David’s bed.

“David?” Max hollered. "If you're in there, you'd better get up already. Nikki's hungry, and none of us want to deal with the consequences of that."

The bed was unmade and the lamp light on the bedside table was still glaring with a warm light. David wasn’t in.

“Okay…” Max muttered to himself before moving away from the window.

“ _Max!_ What are you doing over here?” snapped Gwen, making Max jump and bash his head against the window frame.

“Gah! Jeez! Would it kill you to not to give me a fucking heart attack?” Max growled.

“Wow, you’re a ball of sunshine, today.” Gwen was wearing a bathrobe, her hair wrapped in a towel and her hands locked around a mug of coffee.

“Suck it, Gwen. Have you seen David? He wasn’t around to wake us up or drag us into one of his stupid camping activities, and worst of all," he shot Gwen a baleful glare, "we haven't been fed.”

Gwen gave Max an incredulous look. “Really? Since when does David let you delinquents roam around in the mornings?”

“You're telling me,” Max snapped. “Do you know where he went?”

Gwen grimaced. “Well, he did say he would go into town to grab some things… but that was yesterday.”  

“He isn’t here now,” Max said flatly. "How long does it take to get groceries?"

Gwen was frowning pensively. “I should give him a call.”

She quickly flipped out her phone and dialed David’s number. Max stood beside her, impatient, hungry, and  _not_ worried about David.

They stood next to the cabin in silence until the long rings were replaced with David's recorded voice.

_Hello, dear friend! I hope you’re having a wonderful day! I’m afraid that I cannot answer your call right now, but I’m sure that I’ll get to you as soon as I can! Talk to you later!_

Gwen hung up, dazed.

“But David always answers the phone…”

Gwen dialled a few more times, but all that answered was David’s cheery recording. She paced anxiously, muttering curses when it went to voicemail for the fifth time.

Max had parked himself on the cabin's front step. "Anything?" he pressed.

Gwen gave Max a glance and sighed as she pocketed the phone. “No, he’s not answering.”

"What is  _that_ supposed to mean?"

“It means what it means, Max.” Gwen groaned and rubbed her eyes. “Now I’m alone with all of you kids. This is gonna be a nightmare.”

“Well, no shit, Sherlock. Without the both of you here, everything turns into a disaster in, like, two-point-five seconds.”

“Hey, don’t insult Sherlock,” snapped Gwen, her inner fangirl going on the defensive. “He’s an intelligent and _very_ attractive British man!”

"That- that's not-" Max was taken aback by the sudden change of topic. "Can we just get back to finding David, please? Should we, like, call the police or something?"

Gwen bit her lip. "Campbell doesn't like us bringing the authorities up here."

"Yeah, but what if David's like, caught in a bear trap and bleeding out somewhere?" Max insisted.

"Max.  _Chill._ David can take care of himself. But if he's not back by this afternoon, I'll call Campbell. Okay?"

Max snorted angrily before storming off. "Fine. Whatever."

 _I don't care if he's dying in a ditch somewhere. I don't care._   _I don't._

He kept telling himself he didn't care when David didn't show up by dinnertime, or when Campbell flatly refused to allow Gwen to call the police until the next day. 

After a sleepless night and the arrival of cops, dogs, and paramedics, it was getting harder for Max to pretend he wasn't out of his mind with worry. He had drunk his body weight in coffee, and he fidgeted impatiently as he waited for the search to begin.

_I hate David. I don't care if he fucking dies. I don't._

_I don't care._

 

* * *

 

The police were technically leading the search, but Max had broken off from the group and dashed ahead with one of the search-and-rescue dogs. The dog was twice Max’s size, and it dragged him along on its leash as it tracked David’s scent through the forest.

When a dilapidated shack came into view, Max was flat-out sprinting to keep up with the dog. The door was locked, but an old wooden door was no match for a furious ten-year-old. He nearly fell down the stairs as it flew off its hinges, catching himself on the door frame by the tips of his fingers.

The tiny shack led straight down to a wide basement, dimly illuminated by… were those candles? By fuck, was Daniel such a cliche.

“Hey, you idiots!” Max shouted over his shoulder. “He’s down here! I found him! Get your asses over here!”

He started to shout something else, but the words died in his throat as he saw what was going on in the basement.

Daniel was kneeling on top of David with a twisted knife in his hands, glaring up at Max murderously. David was spasming on the floor, drenched in blood, a rough star carved into his chest.

With an inarticulate shriek, Max threw himself down the stairs and tackled Daniel off of David. The knife flew out of his hands as Max sent him to the ground, punching and kicking with all his strength.

“YOU FUCKER!” Max screamed as he continued to punch Daniel, not even noticing that he’d just broken the man’s nose, getting blood all over himself and Daniel’s shirt. “I WILL MAKE YOU PAY! DAVID IS NOT YOURS TO SACRIFICE TO YOUR FAKE ASS GOD!”

Daniel thrashed, throwing Max off of him and lunging for the knife. Max snatched at it first, but Daniel wrenched it out of his hands and slashed at Max. Before he could get another swipe in, another body hurtled between them and sent Daniel flying.

“Max! come on! Help the others get David out of here! I’ll deal with the freak,” barked a female voice, and Max froze with his hand over the slash in his arm.

“But—“

“No buts about it! Get your ass over there!”

Daniel lunged at Gwen with the knife, but she twisted it out of his hand with a practiced move and sent him back to the ground with a swift punch to his broken nose. He fell with a scream, clutching his face, and Gwen kicked him in the ribs.

Max was kneeling next to David, shaking him and shouting his name with tears streaming down his face. Police and paramedics were charging down the stairs, and Gwen was grappling Daniel while shouting obscenities.

Daniel coughed up blood while Gwen glared in resolute hatred and disgust that nearly burned through him.

“You’re going to the asylum, you son of a bitch,” Gwen spat and swung her fist to bring the final punch that brought lights out for Daniel.

David’s face was frighteningly slack. He lay limp, unresponsive as the paramedics lifted him onto the stretcher and into the waiting ambulance. In the late afternoon light, his skin was ashen gray.

“David, stay with me,” Gwen pleaded as she hurled herself into the ambulance after him. Max was left behind with the police officers, holding a towel to the gash on his arm, as the ambulance took off down the mountain towards the nearest hospital.


	3. Hop Aboard the Trauma Express

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David regains consciousness in the hospital and deals with the aftermath of the attack.  
> Max is not happy about any of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's another chapter by moi! FAZZ, IT'S YOUR TURN NOW OR SO HELP ME I'LL JUMP ON AN AIRPLANE, BREAK DOWN YOUR DOOR, AND SACRIFICE YOU TO ZEEMUUG.
> 
> Credit where it's due to @forestwater87 for David and Gwen's last names, they are precious gems and should be canon imho.

When David woke up, he was staring at a hospital ceiling.

He’d been to Sleepy Peak General before. Once when he got tangled up in the flagpole, another time when he’d fallen off the ladder while fixing the cabin’s roof, and several times when his campers were ill or injured.

This time, however, he couldn’t remember why he was here. Had he been run over by the bus again? Had he been attacked by the platypus? Had Daniel-

_Daniel._

David gasped, a sharp pain shooting through his chest, as the memory came flooding back. _He- he kidnapped me- he tried to kill me- he said he would kill the kids-_ his chest was on fire and he couldn’t breathe, there wasn’t enough air and he couldn’t move but he had to get out of here, he had to find out if his campers were safe-

The world spun and someone was screaming, maybe David, and then someone was holding him down and everything was suddenly all warm and fuzzy again and his body went limp...  

Several hours later, David slowly regained consciousness once again. This time, his limbs felt weighed down, and the wounds in his chest barely twinged with each breath. His head felt as though it were packed with cotton.

“Jesus, dude, five seconds awake and you flip out? That’s pretty lame, even for you,” a familiar voice piped up outside of David’s view.

“M-max?” David mumbled, straining to turn his head. The mattress shifted and Max’s curly head appeared in David’s field of vision, scowling down at him.

“Honestly, David, you leave the camp for five minutes and you get kidnapped and nearly murdered,” Max snapped. “What did I _always_ tell you? That your ridiculously positive attitude was going to get you killed. I didn’t think it would be so literal, more like a slow emotional death, but I was right anyway.”

David stared at Max vaguely, trying to understand what he was saying. “Max…” he repeated slowly.

“Holy shit, you’re stoned out of your gourd, aren’t you?” Max groaned. “I’m gonna go get a snack and come back when you’re coherent.”

He made to jump off the bed, but David reached out to him with a shaking hand. ‘Wait,” he blurted. “Max, the others- the kids, are- are they-”

“Calm. Down,” Max said harshly. “Everyone’s fine. Seriously, _you’re_ the one who almost died here, why don’t you just worry about yourself? Damn.”

David went limp with relief, his eyes filling with tears. _They’re alive. They’re all alive. But... I still failed them… I failed my campers…_

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Max groaned as David started sniffling. “Is this going to be, like, a thing with you now? Seriously, man up already. You’re fine. We’re all fine.”

Max huffed irritably as David’s cries increased to heartbroken wails. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” he muttered. Still, he lay down next to David and let him bury his face in Max’s curly hair.

“Don’t read too much into this,” Max grumbled as he cuddled up against David. “It’s just that they’d probably sedate you again if you flip out, and I am _not_ waiting another three hours for you to wake up again. Also, if you tell anyone I let you hug me, I’ll finish what Daniel started and kill you.”

David clung tightly to Max and didn’t answer.

* * *

“You were treated for dehydration, blood loss, and a concussion, Mr. Greenwood,” the nurse told David cheerfully as she changed his IV. “I have to say, you’re the most interesting patient we’ve had here in ages!”

“Uhh…” David couldn’t quite follow what she was saying.

“Yeah, that’s great,” Max snapped, still plastered to David’s side. “Quite the achievement.”

The nurse flashed a cheeky grin at Max, then turned back to David. “Are you okay with your son staying here while the police take your statement?” she asked in the same chipper voice.

“Uhh…” David was confused for a completely different reason now.

“It’s fine,” Max spoke for him. “I'm not some snot-nosed little brat you have to protect from the 'real world.' I’m the one who saved his life, remember? You’re not going to scar me for life any more than I already am.”

The nurse, like all good nurses, was immune to cynicism. “I bet you’re popular with all the ladies,” she said with a bright grin before leaving the room.

Max sneered at her retreating back. “God, and I thought _you_ were annoying,” he remarked.

“Max… wha’d she mean by that?” David mumbled.

“Oh. Uh, yeah. I lied to get in here. I told them you were my dad,” Max said sheepishly.

“...Oh,” David said softly. Heavy silence fell until a police officer entered the room.

"David, I heard what happened from the doctors," he said as he pulled up the chair with a slight squeak. "Are you alright?"

David's bed was reclining so he was sitting at eye level with the officer, but he stared at the ceiling instead. "I'm... I'll be fine, Sal."

"Are you okay to talk about what happened?" Sal prompted.

"I don't remember much," David admitted. "I was walking out to my car, and... I didn't even see him. He must have attacked me from behind. And then..." 

His eyes closed for a moment. Max used the opportunity to shoot Sal a murderous glare.

"I woke up in that basement, and... nothing happened for a couple of days. And then... Daniel, he..." 

David stopped again with a choked sob. Sal leaned forward, patting David's hand comfortingly. "I think that's enough for now, Dave," he said. "I'll come back later."

"Yeah, you better run," Max hissed. Sal glanced at him.

"Isn't this the kid who crashed the bus?" 

There was nothing but awkward silence as the officer left the room.

 

* * *

Max was angry.

Max was always angry. But he had never before felt this particular variety of seething fury until he sat in an uncomfortable hospital chair, watching David whimper in his sleep, head turning as he tried to escape whatever morphine-fueled nightmare he was trapped in.

Inwardly, Max felt the nearly irrepressible desire to tackle that smug blond psycho again and this time, not let Gwen stop him until his smug blond brains were smeared across the basement floor. He also felt murderous, burning rage at Daniel for hurting David, at Campbell for refusing to call the police until it was almost too late, at the _whole fucking world_ for being the kind of world that would allow something so unthinkable to happen to someone so… so… _David._

There was only one thing Max loathed more than an obnoxiously upbeat, perpetually cheerful David. And that was a David who was _not_ smiling. A David whose optimism had been shattered, his innocence extinguished. That was supposed to be Max’s job.

But not like this. _Never_ like this.

The image of David, twitching in a pool of blood with Daniel kneeling on top of him, _literally_ _in the middle of being murdered,_ was seared into Max’s brain. If he’d arrived just a few minutes later… Max’s fingers dug into the sides of his chair.

David may be the most obnoxious, insufferable lunatic that Max had ever had the displeasure of dealing with. But a world without David in it was not a world that Max wanted to live in.

David’s pained cries grew more frantic. Rather than charge straight out of the hospital, find Daniel in whatever decrepit cell he was sure to be rotting in, and end his miserable life then and there, Max climbed from the chair to David’s hospital bed and carefully cuddled up next to him.

“Damn, David, just chill out,” Max muttered as David’s arm spasmodically clutched at him. “You’re fine, okay? Everyone’s fine. Just sleep already, idiot.”

Max continued to murmur reassuring insults until David’s breathing calmed once again and he slept peacefully.

* * *

The first time David was awake for longer than a few minutes and not occupied with nurses or police officers, Max was absorbed in a video game.

Before getting his attention, David watched Max for a long moment. He took in the dark circles under Max’s eyes, the mess of his hair, the scowl that was more pronounced than usual. Those expressive green eyes were focused so intently on the game, David was surprised the screen didn’t catch fire.

“Max?” he said softly.

Max’s head snapped up. “Yeah?”

“How come you didn’t go back to camp with Gwen?” She had wanted to stay with David, but that would mean leaving a dozen frightened children without a familiar face. Several police officers had remained at the camp to help watch the campers and help them feel safe. Understandably, the incident had been traumatic for more than a few of the kids.

Max shrugged uncomfortably, looking anywhere but at David. “What, you think I’d voluntarily go back to that hell-hole a minute sooner than I had to?”

“Wouldn’t you rather be with your friends?” David pressed. “I’m sure they’re worried about you.”

“I think they’re a little more worried about _you,_ moron,” Max said flatly.

David’s face tightened. “Oh… I must have caused everyone so much bother…”

“Seriously, idiot. Worry. About. Yourself.”

“It’s… I just…” David bit his lower lip.

Max set his game to one side and looked at David fully. “No, for reals. Don’t shit me. You were _literally_ almost murdered last night. Why in fucking hell are you _still_ more concerned about your fucking campers?!”

“It’s my job, Max,” David muttered. “I’m responsible for the kids. And Daniel nearly killed them right in front of me. I couldn't protect them... I wasn’t… good enough…”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Max sighed as David began sniffling again.

With a long-suffering air, Max kicked at the lever until David’s hospital bed was reclining again. Snatching up his video game, he climbed up and sat next to David, pretending not to notice the tears dripping onto his arm. He silently played his game until David pulled himself together.

“Max, you didn’t answer my question,” David finally said in a hoarse voice. “Why didn’t you go back to camp?”

Max made an irritated noise before looking up from his game. “Look, I wouldn’t exactly call this _civilization,_ but at least there’s internet down here. And the hospital food is shit, but at least there aren’t any bugs in it. And... “ he looked back down at the screen. “Gwen… didn’t want you to be left alone. Don’t read too much into it. I would’ve been just as happy to abandon your ass down here.”

“...Sure. Thanks, Max.”

“Whatever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY HEY HEY! ZEEMUUG IS /MY/ GOD NOT YOURS, UNBELIEVER! HAVE YOU BEEN LOOKING UP IN SPACE TOO MUCH? CALM DOWN I WILL GET ONTO THE PAIN


	4. CBFL's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gwen can't deal with this, but she deals with it anyway.  
> Tears are shed and visits are had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said it was Fazz's turn, but she had her weekly self-esteem crisis today. I tried to help her write the chapter, but then I just wrote the whole thing, so... she'll be next! I promise!  
> ...Probably.
> 
> GUESS WHAT EVERYONE  
> AN INCREDIBLE READER DREW FANART  
> I CAN'T BELIEVE IT  
> I'VE NEVER HAD FANART FROM ANYONE BUT FAZZ BEFORE  
> *ahem* She goes by Milo Lumi on this site, she can disclose her Tumblr if she chooses, but I'll show everyone because IT'S INCREDIBLE AND I'M SO HAPPY

Gwen had made the hour’s drive down to Sleepy Peak General Hospital and back four times in two days. On the plus side, this had given her plenty of time to reflect on every mistake she had made, every awful thing that had happened, and everything else that could go horribly wrong in the near future.

Over the past two and a half days, Gwen had become more familiar with the interior of a hospital than she'd ever wanted to. Now she sat with David, holding his hand while a nurse changed his bandages. He was trying not to look at the mess of stitches and inflamed skin that his chest had become- honestly, neither was she- so he stared at Gwen instead. She scrambled for some topic of conversation to fill the silence, but anything she could say right now seemed either trite or unbearably sappy. Gwen wasn’t very good at the whole _feelings_ thing, and David looked like he might be about to cry if she said the wrong thing.

So she remained silent, staring uncomfortably at David while he watched her with those giant green eyes that she wished weren't _quite_ so expressive. His hand gripped hers too tightly, but she didn’t try to pull away.

She’d let David down too many times already. She wasn’t about to do it again.

Where had she been when that freaky cultist tried to kill the entire camp? Hiding in town like the selfish bitch she was. She’d turned tail and ran the instant it looked like a second David had arrived at the camp. She hadn’t even known that everyone had been in danger at all until she overheard Max complaining about it the next day at breakfast; and even _then_ she’d assumed he was exaggerating.

When David had disappeared, she’d been worried he may have gotten in trouble, but she was thinking of the “car problems” kind of trouble instead of the “attempted murder” kind. Even the worst-case scenarios she'd pictured had been that he'd been attacked by the platypus or caught up helping a swarm of little old ladies cross the street. The idea that David could actually have enemies had seemed absolutely ludicrous up to the very moment Max had broken down the door of that shack and she’d seen… nothing she was willing to think about.

If she’d been with David for _any_ part of that, if she’d given more than the barest minimum of required effort at any time, none of this would have ever happened. David wouldn’t be lying in a hospital bed that was too narrow for his gangly arms and legs, clinging to her hand like it was the only thing keeping him alive.

It wasn’t enough.

“Where’s Max?” David asked hoarsely, breaking the silence after the nurse left. “Is he okay?”

 _You have got to be kidding me..._ Gwen shook herself out of her melancholia. David was the only one who had any right to be moping around right now, and here he was, still thinking only of others.

“I gave him a ten and sent him down to the cafeteria… which means he’s probably up on the roof trying to hotwire the helicopter.”

David chuckled, then winced. His grip tightened around her fingers for a fraction of a second.

“Oh! I’m sorry,” Gwen blurted. “Are you alright?”

David was obviously in pain, but he still tried to smile. “Oh, don’t you worry about me, Gwen,” he assured her, slightly breathless. “I’m on some strong medication. I can barely even feel it.”

Gwen bit her lip, studying David’s pale face intently and trying to squelch the rising panic. She'd panicked too much already. The paramedics had nearly admitted her on the first night, as she watched through the window at David receiving transfusion after transfusion, surrounded by doctors until he was blocked from view, and her knees gave out but she couldn’t scream because there was no air, there was no more air or light or sunshine in the world because David was all of those things…

A kind EMT had helped her put her head between her knees and talked to her until she could breathe again. She had a feeling that he’d seen more than one panic attack from the friends and family of patients. After that, he'd been moved from surgery into recovery, but she still wasn't allowed to see him. When she watched David through another window to another identical hospital room as he lay as still as a corpse, suppressing the hysteria had been nearly impossible.

Now she forced herself to breathe slowly and steadily, trying harder than she’d ever tried at anything to keep David from noticing the stress on her face. He didn’t need to worry about her too.

“The campers all want to visit you.” She forced her tone to sound light. “As soon as you're ready, I’ll bring them here two or three at a time so they don’t crowd you.”

“That would be wonderful,” David breathed, his face still tight with pain. “I hope they’re all doing alright.”

“They're fine. The cops are still up there to make sure they’re all safe, but everyone misses you. Camp just isn't the same without you.” 

“Thanks, Gwen." He paused. "Uh, Do you mind if I close my eyes for a minute? I’m a little…”

Gwen gave him a tight smile. “Yeah, of course. I’ll be right here.”

After only a moment, David’s breathing slowed and his mouth opened slightly. Gwen watched his sleeping face, still holding his hand in both of hers.

This was not the David she knew. Her David was full of boundless energy, with too much love and enthusiasm to possibly be contained in one person. Her David was endearingly annoying. He had probably never held still in his life, always bounding from one activity to another, restless even in his sleep. This David was too still, too quiet, and that was just so _wrong_ that she couldn’t even stand to think about it. Even his hair floof looked wilted.

David might never recover from this.

And it was all her fault.

* * *

 

It was another two days before David was ready for visitors. When Gwen kicked the door to David’s room open and herded Neil and Nikki inside, David was awake and sitting up in his bed. Max sat next to him, their heads together as they bickered over Max’s video game.

“Look, we’re not putting Jigglypuff in our party, and that’s final,” Max was saying.

“But it’s so cute!” David pouted.

“I don’t _care_ how cute it is, David, we’ll get demolished in the next gym if we keep using your pansy-ass pink ones!”

“Um, guys?” Gwen interrupted. David and Max’s heads snapped up in tandem.

“Oh! Nikki! Neil!” David beamed. “I’m so glad you guys came all this way to visit me!”

Neil looked uncomfortable, but Nikki’s grin was as oblivious as ever.

“I brought you a pine cone!” she chirped, pulling it out of her hair. “Cause, you know, there’s no nature down here.”

Max rolled his eyes, but David cupped it in his hands like it was a treasure. “Thank you very much, Nikki,” he said earnestly, tearing up a little.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” Max muttered under his breath.

“I wanted to make you a chat-bot so you could feel like you were talking to us, but… last time I did that, it attained sentience and then deleted itself almost immediately, so I made you a card instead,” Neil said awkwardly as he pulled out a slightly creased sheet of paper and handed it over.

David was openly weeping now. “Oh, thank you, Neil. This is so thoughtful. Everyone signed it, too…”

Max plucked the card from David’s hands before he could cry all over it. “Why does it say ‘Neil’ twice?” he questioned.

Neil shrugged. “That’s what Space Kid wrote.”

“And why did Quartermaster write ‘my turn’?”

“Uhh… he was muttering some sort of dire warning under his breath while he was signing the card,” Neil offered. “I’m really not sure what he meant by that.”

“Best not to pry too deeply into anything QM does,” Gwen declared. “Kids, why don’t you go have a look around the hospital? I need to talk to David about something.”

“It’s a fucking hospital, Gwen,” Max said acerbically. “What exactly is there to explore? ‘If you look to your left, you’ll see people dying of the plague. If you look to your right, there’s a moron with a fork stuck in her eye.’ Simply fascinating.”

“And if you look over here, you’ll see my foot booting your snarky ass out of the room,” Gwen snapped. “Can you kids just entertain yourselves for ten minutes?”

Max heaved a full-body sigh of disdain. “Fiiiiiiiiiine,” he groaned. “Come on guys, let’s go break into the vending machine.”

He climbed off the bed in an affronted manner, leaving David holding the video game. His body language radiating injured dignity, Max stalked past Gwen without looking at her and led Neil and Nikki out of the room.

“So… how’re you doing?” Gwen asked, hesitantly sitting at the edge of the bed and resting her hand on David’s. His fingers were cold, but his face had more color than the last time she’d seen him.

David thought for a while before answering. The silence was heavy and uncomfortable, full of tangled things that neither knew how to say.

“I’m… okay, I guess,” he finally said. “Max taught me how to play Pokemon.” He offered a faint smile.

Gwen chuckled once. “I thought he’d be driving you bonkers down here by himself. Or, like, burn the hospital down or something.”

“Max is a good kid,” David said defensively. “If you didn’t trust him, why did you ask him to stay here with me?”

Gwen rolled your eyes. “Is that really what he told you? The little shit threw a tantrum when I tried to make him _leave.”_

“Oh…” David was silent for a moment. Gwen squeezed his hand.

“He didn’t want you to be alone,” she said softly. “Kid’s got a heart after all.”

“I always knew that,” David murmured.

Silence fell again, but it was softer this time, as though some of the unspoken pain had eased.

“Mr. Campbell sent a letter for you,” Gwen said suddenly, then chuckled. “That was why I kicked the kids out, but it slipped my mind.”

David perked up. “He did?” Suddenly, he sounded like an eager ten-year-old. His grin was almost laughable.

Gwen shifted on the bed, pulling an envelope out of her pocket. “Yeah, he vanished into thin air the moment the cops showed up to look for you, but this envelope showed up on the doorstep the next day with no return address.”

David was barely listening, tearing the envelope open excitedly. A card and two pieces of paper fluttered into his lap.

“Wow, he sent a card just like Neil!” It was a generic get-well-soon card with no signature, but David was beaming like it was a heartfelt love letter.

“What’s the rest of this?” Gwen snatched up the two papers. “It’s a note and… a check?” Gwen’s face drained of color. “Holy shit, that’s a lot of money…”

She handed the check to David, who made a choking noise. “This... what… why?”

Gwen checked the note that had accompanied the check. “He’s willing to pay your medical bills. That’s unexpectedly nice of him, I guess, but why is the check made out from the ‘Thailand Bureau of Gardening?’ That dude is into some sketchy shit,” she muttered. She glanced at David. “Wait, are you _crying?”_

“He’s just… so generous…” David sniffled.

Gwen rolled her eyes. “That's one word for it. Other words that come to mind are 'dubious' and 'possibly illegal.'"

"Gwen, the founder of our camp should be spoken of with respect!" David said indignantly. Gwen wanted to be more annoyed than she was, but all she felt was relief that David could work up this kind of enthusiasm.

"I can listen to you extol Campbell’s virtues all day,” she said dryly, “but luckily for me, it sounds like the munchkins are coming back.”

She retrieved the check and stashed it out of sight before the door slammed open and Max charged back in with his friends in tow. All of them had armfuls of snacks, but Gwen chose to pretend she didn’t notice.

“I hope you don’t think I’m going to share these– wait, why are you crying?” Max’s gaze snapped to Gwen. “What did you _do?_ ”

“Why do you assume _I_ did something, you little brat?” Gwen demanded.

“Max, I’m fine,” David assured him. “Gwen brought me some good news, that’s all.”

Still, Max continued to glare at Gwen suspiciously. Nikki and Neil flanked him, looking uncertain but ready to throw down at a moment’s notice.

Gwen stood up abruptly. “You know what? I should head back to camp before Max rips my face off,” she declared. “David, you’ll be alright while I'm gone?”

“Max and I’ll be fine.” David grinned. “Our Pokemon won’t raise themselves, you know!”

Gwen rolled her eyes, then leaned down to kiss David’s hair floof. “I’ll come back soon,” she murmured. Then she straightened up. “Come on, kids. Let’s go see if anyone set fire to anything while we were gone.”

* * *

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: guess what??  
> Since I can *never* leave well enough alone (and I hate sleep apparently), I went back and rewrote chapter 1 instead of the five or six other things I should be doing. Like sleeping.  
> It's like 20% better now IMHO, with bonus paragraphs of David trauma!


	5. Camp Sweet Camp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David and Gwen look forward to getting home, but their homecoming isn't all it should be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, sorry this took so long! I lost my groove for a while, but I'm ready to jump back into the swing of things.
> 
> On a related note, I've decided to turn this fic (which was originally started just for fun with no real intent to follow through) into a proper project that will update on a weekly schedule. I haven't decided which day to publish, but it'll likely be Mondays.

“This is embarrassing…” David mumbled as Gwen wheeled him down the hospital's sterile hallway. “I can walk perfectly fine.”

“Sorry dude, them’s the rules,” Gwen apologized. “You gotta be my wheelbarrow until we get out the door.”

After two weeks of pain, boredom, and the persistent crick in Gwen's spine from sleeping on uncomfortable hospital chairs too often, David had finally been discharged and given the go-ahead to return to camp. This had also led to a delicate conversation between Gwen and David the night before.  


"Are you sure you want to go back to camp?" Gwen had said, trying to sound casual. "If you want to go home instead, I'm sure everyone would understand. If there's someone I can call..."

"Camp Campbell  _is_ my home," David had insisted. "There's nowhere else in the world I'd rather be."

He had refused to elaborate further on the subject of his hometown, or given Gwen any number to call. Once again, Gwen was left wondering how little she truly knew about the man she had shared a cabin with every summer for three years. Did he really have no other close friends or family members?

Max trailed behind them as Gwen pushed David down the hall, looking utterly disinterested. “Get the lead out, wheelie,” he grumbled. “As excited as I am to go back to that godforsaken hellhole of a camp, we’re getting there at approximately zero-point-zero miles per hour.”

“I’m trying not to bump him, Max,” Gwen snapped. “Don’t be an asshole.”

Max sidled around Gwen, giving the wheelchair a sharp kick. “Oops,” he said flatly.

Gwen expected David’s release from the hospital to be a joyful event. And it was, in many ways. But mostly it was a mess of signing papers, shouting at Max, and trying to maneuver David out the door and into the car with a minimum of hassle. There wasn’t enough room in Gwen’s overtaxed brain for anything but a fleeting acknowledgement of  _ Holy shit, _ _  thank God he’s alive, he’s going to be okay, we’re getting out of here  _ before David needed her help putting his seatbelt on and the guilt hit her anew.

The old-as-dirt station wagon had made the trip to the hospital one time too many. Gwen could only pray that this time would be the last. 

David stared silently out the window as they drove. Max complained non-stop. Gwen stared at the road and tried not to scream.

"Are we there yet?" Max whined.  


"You know damn well we're not," Gwen growled. "I'm about ten seconds away from running this car off the road. Don't test me."

"...Are we there yet?"

* * *

 

Nearly everyone had visited David in the hospital. Harrison had conjured a bouquet of flowers while Nerris cast a spell of healing; Preston and Dolph had both delivered dramatic soliloquies; even Nurf and Ered had awkwardly offered well-wishes. Neither Space Kid nor Quartermaster made an appearance.

Gwen’s stomach lurched with a mixture of anticipation and apprehension as the car turned into the long dirt road that led up to the camp. David visibly relaxed as they returned to his element, leaving the sterile hospital further and further behind.

“Ready to be home?” Gwen asked.

David glanced at her, then back out the window. “More than anything,” he said. “I just want everything to go back to normal.”

Max snorted from the backseat. “Right. Because questionable camp food and a gang of insufferable idiots is ‘normal.’ Sign me the hell up.”

“Well, it wouldn’t be normal if you weren’t being a little shit,"  Gwen retorted.

The camp was bustling when they pulled up to the cabin. Gwen had sat the entire camp down the day before and given them all a warning that the best thing for David would be to come home to business as usual, so most of the campers were up to their normal shenanigans. Preston was sitting on a stump, deep in animated conversation with a (presumably) fake skull. Ered was on the roof of the mess hall with her skateboard, Dolph and Nikki egging her on. 

As soon as Max noticed Neil waving from the dilapidated science camp, he bolted from the car and the pair vanished around the corner. Gwen just rolled her eyes, rounding the car to open David’s door and offering him her elbow.

“Would you care to accompany me, milady?” she asked with a grin.

David’s mouth twitched. “It would be my pleasure, good sir.”

Arm in arm, David and Gwen walked a slow tour through the camp. The sunshine was blissful compared to the harsh lighting of the hospital. A gentle breeze teased at her hair. It was as if the camp itself wanted to welcome David home.

Everywhere they turned, David was met with another excited greeting, a careful hug, a demonstration of what had been accomplished while David had been away. Everything was normal. Everything was perfect.

Except it wasn’t.

Gwen noticed, because of course she did. She’d become attuned to David’s moods over the past two weeks, with all the protective potential violence of a mama bear. David’s smile was beginning to falter, his steps slowing, letting her take the lead instead of dragging her behind him.

Without a word exchanged, Gwen steered him towards the counselors’ cabin. She paid no heed to the quizzical looks of the campers who noticed, locking the door on any and all intrusions.

“What’s the matter, David?” Gwen dropped his arm, checking for a fever with the back of her hand. “Are you in pain? Do you need your meds? Are you tired? I’ll keep everyone from bothering you if you want to take a nap-”

“No,” David interrupted, sagging against the wall. “I, I just…”

“David. Tell me what’s wrong.” Gwen leaned into his personal space, ready to hug, but David shrank back. David  _ never  _ pulled away from a hug. He was the most touchy-feely person Gwen had ever known. But his arms were wrapped around himself defensively, his face tight and pained.

“I can’t do this, Gwen,” David blurted, sliding until his legs hit the bed and he sat down hard. “I thought I’d be happy to get back to camp, and I- I am, but-”

“It’s not the same?” Gwen guessed, hesitantly seating herself next to him. His head slumped forward, disappointment and exhaustion written in every line of his body language.

“Yeah,” David said. “I’m, I don’t know, I’m just, scared? I guess? Not of the campers, or of the camp, I'm just... scared. I know that’s totally irrational-”

“Of course it isn’t,” Gwen said softly. “You were abducted from a place you thought was safe, and hurt by someone you thought you could trust. Honestly, it would be pretty psychotic for you  _not_ to feel scared right now."

"But the campers," David protested weakly. "They need me, and I want them to have the best camp experience. It's not fair to them if I just hide away..."

"Nobody expects you to get back to normal right away, David. You shouldn’t expect it of yourself either. I promise no one will mind if you need to keep to yourself for a while longer.”

David nodded, but she could tell he didn’t believe her. It would take a lot more than the usual comforting platitudes to get through to him now. Suddenly, her hard-earned psych degree seemed more useless and ineffectual than it ever had before. David’s mind was off in some cold, lonely place that she didn’t know how to reach.

Part of her wanted to stay, to talk to David and take his mind off things, to watch Bob Ross together and remind him that it wasn’t all bad. She'd been glued to David's side so long, a few more hours wouldn't kill her.

A  _ bigger  _ part, the anxiety-riddled, self-absorbed part, wanted to bolt from this uncomfortable situation and check on the rest of the camp, drowning herself in busywork until she felt justified leaving David alone in the quiet cabin.

Bitch that she was, she stood up and left David sitting alone on his bed. “Why don’t you take a nap or something,” she suggested. “I’ll take care of the campers. Let me know if you, uh, need anything.”

“Yeah. Thanks, Gwen,” David muttered without looking up.

Gwen felt her gut clench with guilt that was just  _ barely _ outweighed by relief as she gently closed the door on David. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my beta, Fazz, and my dear friend @Flameroyalty for helping me get my groove back. :D
> 
> Neither of them were talking to me today, but I'm not lonely. *sob*


	6. Missing: One Bunch of Idiots. No Reward.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max is up to his usual shenanigans, but it doesn't go over as well as it used to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyoo everyone!  
> I'm still working on finding a day that works best for weekly publishing (now I'm thinking it'll be Fridays), so updates will probably still be sporadic until I work this fic into my regular schedule.

“All right, dipshits!” Max barked, pacing back and forth before the regimented line of campers. “The Wood Scouts raided us last night, and made off with our entire stock of marshmallows. Are we going to take that lying down, and doom ourselves to a summer of boring, s’more-less campfires?”

“Yes!” Nikki cheered.

“No! Now is the time to launch our counterattack! Those Wood Scouts will never see it coming!”

“Uhh…” Neil raised his hand. “Won’t they see us coming when we’re crossing the lake?”

Max pounded his broken staff against his hand. “Not if we strike under cover of darkness!”

“So, we’re attacking them the day after they attack us, in the same way, at the same time?  _ How  _ exactly will they not see this coming?” Neil said skeptically.

“Because shut up, that’s why,” Max snapped. "Now come on, everyone, let's take back what's ours!"

He pumped his fist, and the campers cheered.

* * *

“What are they doing out there?” David asked.

Gwen stood up from her armchair, peeking through the curtains to identify the source of the war cries that echoed through the camp.

“Max is still doing his ‘Lord of the Flies’ thing,” she reported as she settled back into her chair and kicking her legs over the arm. “With any luck, he’ll keep the rest of them busy until it’s time for the campfire.”

Gwen had been sequestered in the cabin with David for most of the day, keeping him company while he was under the weather. That was what she called it, the days David couldn’t get out of bed. “Under the weather,” and never anything else.

On days like these, Gwen took care of the camp. She made sure the campers attended meals (and ensured those meals were edible), kept the kids from murdering one another, and threw together halfhearted activities to keep them distracted. For the most part, she left the campers to their own devices so she could sit with David for hours.

On days like these, David didn’t answer when she went to wake him up. She would leave, attend to the camp, and then return. She’d pull a chair up next to his bed, turn on Bob Ross, and sit with the unresponsive lump under the covers as though they were casually hanging out.

On days like these, Gwen would force her own anxiety, the constant pounding  _ David needs you, the campers need you, everyone needs you but you’re not good enough you’ll never be good enough  _ until it forced its way out of her at night when she woke up, sheets twisted and spotted with blood where she’d been chewing at her knuckles in her sleep to keep from screaming...

She didn’t tell David that part. He didn’t handle the sight of blood so well anymore.

By the time the sun set on this particular bad day, Gwen was beginning to hope that the night would pass without incident. Those hopes were dashed when she pried herself from David and Bob Ross to check up on the campers, only to find the camp completely deserted.

“Shit,“ Gwen hissed to herself.

Breathing deeply to quell the rising dread, Gwen made a quick circuit through all the likely spots. The campers weren’t in their tents, congregated in the mess hall, or playing in any of their usual haunts. Nerris’s cardboard tower was listing sadly to one side, as if it missed its occupant. A tumbleweed blew across the stage, as though the phantom presence of Preston wanted to cause dramatic effect.

The sky was darkening too quickly. Her tiny flashlight- honestly, how did Campbell ever expect them to operate properly on their budget?- barely let her see to put her feet without tripping.

“Don’t panic,” she muttered out loud. “I’m sure they’re all fine. They’re just, out playing in the spooky forest at night. All of them. Silently.”

Quartermaster, of course, was also nowhere to be found. He usually vanished who-knows-where to do who-knows-what after dinner anyway, the unreliable old tramp. At least he probably hadn’t taken the kids with him.

The camp was a ghost town. Ghost camp. At least ghosts weren’t real… right?

Suddenly, Gwen was all but certain that the entire camp was overflowing with ghosts; of dead campers, of former teachers with their disappointed glances, of potential employers and their disapproving indifference, of every single person in her royally screwed-up life crowding her at once, sending her flying back to the safety of the puddle of light through the window of the counselors’ cabin. There she crumpled, fists in her hair, fighting the urge to burst inside and hide behind David because  _ he’s been through enough, I can’t tell him the campers are missing, the poor guy would cry and I can’t deal with that on top of everything else… _

There she sat, her insubstantial anxieties trapping her in the safety of the light but the  _ very real _ camp full of missing children lying just outside in the dark. She couldn’t convince her pathetic legs to move; talk her quailing heart into screwing up the courage to step outside the relative civility of the camp into the depths of the forest. Not until voices began to drift from the lake.

Gwen was at the docks in an instant, half ready to run or maybe jump into the lake if it actually turned out to be ghosts. In her cursory search of the docks earlier, she had failed to notice that every boat was missing.  _ What are those little shitheads up to?! _

As the voices approached, they resolved into victory whoops. Max’s boat was the first to the dock, Neil and Nikki clumsily manning the oars. None of them noticed Gwen until Max leaped to the dock, suddenly finding himself face-to-knees with an angry counselor.

“Oh. Uh, hi, Gwe-” Max choked when her fists clenched in his hoodie, lifting him off the ground to face her. “Long time no see,” he managed to gasp.

“Max, you little monster,” Gwen snarled. “Where the  _ hell  _ have you all been?”

The rest of the campers arrived on the boats in twos and threes, disembarking at the other dock or slinking past Gwen abashedly. Gwen took no notice of them. She knew who was responsible for this disaster.

Max sputtered, trying to squirm out of his hoodie and escape, like a lizard leaving his tail behind. But Gwen wasn’t about to let him off that easily.

“Just what do you think you were doing!” she shouted in his face.

“Uh, well, the Wood Scouts-”

“Never mind, I don’t care. Why didn’t you  _ tell me where you were going?” _

Dangling in the air and half-choking, Max still managed to roll his eyes. “Because you would have stopped us?”

“No shit! Do you know what it felt like to come out here and find all of you gone? Do you know how  _ David  _ would have felt if I’d told him?!”

The smirk dropped off Max’s face. “Y-you didn’t tell him, did you?”

“Of course not! He’d probably try to kill himself!” Gwen dropped him in disgust. “You know what? Forget it. I thought you cared about David more than this, but if you’re so determined to be such a pain in the ass, just… do whatever you want.”

She tossed the last sentence over her shoulder as she strode off the dock, leaving Max standing in the dark with an unreadable expression on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone who reads this:  
> Go to Tumblr and sign up immediately for this year's Camp Camp Secret Santa Event Extravaganza!  
> My dear friend Tamara is in charge, and I'd love for there to be as many participants as possible. Find her at @campcamp-secretsanta  
> Thanks, everyone!


	7. Field Trip to Crazy Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's take a peek at everyone's favorite psychopath, shall we?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here you see an author attempting a dialogue-free chapter, throwing her artistic integrity at the wall to see what sticks.

Daniel was a patient man.

_ Good things come to those who wait,  _ a heathen once said. Well, he’d been waiting for so long, there must be exceptionally good things in store for Daniel.

Like a spider, his greatest strength was his ability to remain still for as long as necessary, until the moment a hapless victim wandered into his web. Or a crocodile, buried in the mud unmoving until a foolish gazelle decided it was safe to drink.

Like all predators, Daniel was capable of endless patience.

His two biggest failures had resulted from acting hastily; from showing his hand too soon and making a move too quickly. He should have waited until he’d had that rotten camp completely under his control before killing everyone at once. Allowing himself to be distracted, roped into a  _ music battle  _ of all things, had broken his focus and led to a near-fatal mistake. 

Oh, well. At least he’d had a chance to use his violin for once. He kept it hidden on his person at all times in case of just such an eventuality.

His second mistake had been rushing through his revenge plan. He’d been so angry at that buffoon David, he’d allowed himself to get carried away and kidnap him without taking the proper precautions. His usual plans were meticulous, carefully thought out months in advance, and executed flawlessly. He’d allowed so many people to reach the purity of death without any complications, until he’d let his emotions cloud his judgment. 

Daniel was not an impulsive man. The crazy ones, the fanatics, those were the ones who went  quickly. They purified themselves far too soon, selfishly returned to the loving embrace of Xemüg before leading others to the same fate.

Daniel was cold. Calculating. He was a force of nature, unstoppable and inexorable, sharing enlightenment with the masses with the precision of a scalpel and the sheer power of a hurricane.

Children’s camps were his favorite target. Isolated, secluded, full of impressionable children and minimal adult supervision. He’d show up with a disarming grin, charm his way into the counselor’s good graces, and the place would be a ghost town within a week. 

It was a foolproof plan, until he met the ultimate fool.

He could tell David didn’t even know he was thwarting an attempt on his precious children’s lives. That stooge had never even  _ guessed  _ Daniel’s motives until the evidence had been quite literally screaming in his face. If Daniel hadn’t allowed himself to get distracted, to succumb to the schädenfreude of drinking his own poison, David and his camp would never have survived.

After he’d escaped the hospital, Daniel had been too consumed with rage and sheer indignation to slow down and craft a proper revenge plan. That was his second mistake. Daniel’s murders were indiscriminate; an act of mercy to those unclean humans who did not deserve such a blessing. He never killed for personal reasons.

Until  _ David,  _ that simpleton, had kick-stepped across Daniel’s path and ruined everything. Daniel had never before felt such murderous intent; the desire to kill someone for the sole reason of making that person  _ dead.  _ David had awoken something dark and angry inside of Daniel. Something that refused to slow down and listen to reason.

Now, thanks to that mistake and the subsequent rash decisions, Daniel found himself incarcerated. The legal system had thrown the book at him, with a rushed trial and jury that had been hard-pressed to conceal its vitriol towards him. Daniel made a habit of covering his tracks, so they hadn’t been able to pin many of his previous murders on him, but as he’d been caught in the act of murdering David there was plenty of evidence to convict.

David had not appeared at the trial. The airheaded co-counselor Gwen and the meddlesome brat Max had both testified, Gwen refusing to look Daniel’s way while Max stared at him the entire time with naked hatred. His conviction had been reached on the first day.

So far, prison hadn’t been so bad. The food was better than at that miserable camp, and many of his fellow inmates were receptive to the teachings of Xemüg. Even a few of the guards had begun loitering on the fringes of Daniel’s sermons. 

Although his rage towards David and Max burned more fiercely than ever, Daniel had learned his lesson. His revenge could wait until he was ready. For now, he amassed his following, preparing his new flock to obey his will. He would allow them to ascend once they had outlived their usefulness, but the plans he had set in motion would require a strong force of believers at his back.

Daniel was a patient man. He would have his revenge, in his own good time. 

One quiet night, alone in his cell, Daniel prepared a minor ritual, no death involved, just to retain a connection to his gods. Candles, unlit but important nevertheless, were arranged around his bunk. He bit down on his thumb until blood began to flow. With that blood, he began to draw.

He smeared a circle on the wall, slow and careful, muttering his praises to the gods. When the pentagram was completed, he traced a second circle onto the back of his hand. His gods, so demanding, so impatient, would be appeased for a time.

Slightly lightheaded from blood loss, Daniel stowed his candles and drifted to sleep with a peaceful smile on his face.

A hundred miles away, David jerked awake as his scars began to burn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you wanted me to delve into Danny's backstory, prepare yourself for disappointment. Honestly, I don't feel I could do it as much justice as Tamara (aka @FlameRoyalty), so if you want to see his twisted childhood, check her fics out. I consider her stories to share canon with Kool-Aid.


	8. Canoes & Confrontations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max is both A) terrible at rowing and B) a snooping little shit who won't mind his own business.
> 
> This chapter is unedited, so if you're reading this sentence, please forgive any mistakes and/or sections where I clearly wasn't trying to form coherent words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHO'S BACK
> 
> Cunzy has finished her stint in a clinic (that in no way resembled a mental hospital) and moved to her parent's house to take a break from school and spend some time with her cats.  
> Also, she likes to speak of herself in the third person.

Max used to think that mornings were the worst part of camp. 

He’d been right, of course, but now they were even worse.

“Wake up, you little turds!” Gwen shouted from outside the tent. “Breakfast is getting lukewarm!”

David’s guitar had been the most obnoxious thing to wake up to. He almost preferred the familiarity of angry shouting in the mornings, but he actually missed the guitar.

Of course, he would die before he admitted it.

In fact, he hadn’t realized how many of David’s annoying habits had grown on him over the summer. That dorky grin, the over-the-top cheeriness, the way he acted like he actually  _ cared  _ about Max…

“Max! Are you getting up or what?” Gwen’s cranky voice prompted Max’s swift evacuation from the tent. Nothing good came of pushing Gwen’s patience before she had her morning coffee.

Max could understand that sentiment. He was in an epically bad mood, and coffee was the only cure he could think of.

Until he walked into the mess hall and saw David’s bright grin beaming at him.

“Gooood morning, Max!” he practically shouted. “I hope you’re ready for a day of fun activities!”

_ Okay, time to go back to bed and wake up again, because I’m obviously dreaming.  _ Max squinted, wishing he had sunglasses to block out the glare from David’s smile.

“Gwen,” he hissed as he passed her in the breakfast line. “What the hell? Did you slip him shrooms or something?”

“No idea,” she whispered back. “He’s been like this since he woke up. I want to say it’s a good sign, but let’s keep a close eye on him.” 

“Can we get earpieces and code words?” Max whispered.

“No. Over and out.” Gwen made an awkward gesture that could have been a covert salute and slinked off to stalk David.

Max and Gwen were still on high alert, but to all appearances David was… fine. More than fine. His bubbly voice cut through the din of rowdy children at breakfast, calling the campers to the docks for a boating activity. 

Max hung back as the group filed haphazardly out of the mess hall, letting Gwen catch up with him as she brought up the rear.

“Gwen, use your bullshit psych degree for once,” he muttered in a low voice while they walked. “Tell me why David is acting so, so  _ normal  _ all of a sudden.”

“I have no idea,” she said softly.

“The wonders of college education strike again.”

“Shut up. At a guess, I’d say the shock has worn off. After a trauma, it can take a few weeks to start feeling normal again. But if David’s starting to go back to his old self, I would have expected it to happen gradually, not overnight.”

“Well, that was wonderfully enlightening,” Max said. “Forget it. I’ll ask him myself.”

“Fine, but I swear if you make him cry I’ll drown you in the lake, you tactless brat.”

Max was already running to catch up to David. “Deal!”

“All right, everyone!” David announced. “Split up in pairs and choose a canoe. The first pair to make it to the other side of the island and back with a souvenir wins double dessert tonight!”

David had learned the hard way to be specific about the rewards he offered the campers.

Max snatched an oar off the pile and shoved it into David’s hands. “Come on, Camp Man. You’re coming with me.” Without another word, he leaped into a canoe and nearly dumped himself into the water.

“Max,” David said sternly. “That wouldn’t give the rest of the teams a fair chance! Gwen and I can supervise from our own canoe.”

“Shut up and get in the boat,” Max demanded.

“Okay!” David capitulated immediately and climbed into the canoe opposite Max, folding his legs under the seat. “But you have to take your fair turn rowing!”

“Whatever.”

After Max’s feeble attempt at slapping the water with the paddle yielded nothing but a slow half turn against the dock, David took pity on him and rowed them into the middle of the lake with his long, practiced strokes. Their canoe easily outpaced the rest of the teams, most of whom were still coasting near the dock. Nurf had apparently decided to turn the competition into a game of bumper boats.

“All right, Max. It’s your turn to row!” David pulled the oar into the boat and passed it to Max. 

Instead of rowing, Max laid the paddle across his legs and crossed his arms, staring David down with a dark expression.

“Come on, Max!” David egged. “If you don’t get moving, you won’t be winning that dessert!”

“I don’t want dessert, David, I want answers,” Max snapped. “So start talking.”

David blinked, the slightest flicker of something- alarm? Guilt?- flashing across his face before it was replaced by polite confusion.

“What do you mean, Max? What’s the matter?” he asked.

“Don’t play dumb with me,  _ Camp Man.  _ Your nauseatingly saccharine disposition is vexing at the best of times, but now it’s just plain weird.”

“Max, I don’t even know half of those words. What are you trying to say?” David was looking at Max like he was suddenly speaking another language.

“Dude! You were like, crazy sad just a couple of days ago! Now you’re acting like nothing even happened!”

David was silent for a long moment, regarding Max with a faraway expression. Finally he reached across the boat and ruffled Max’s hair. Max resisted the knee-jerk urge to throw off the hand.

“Oh, Max,” David said with a sad smile. “I won’t deny that I was… rattled by what happened.”

“You can say that again,” Max muttered.

“But there’s no point in dwelling on it forever! These campers need me to be my usual cheerful self. It would be selfish of me to be sad for too long!

“Besides, I’m not the kind of guy who spends too long feeling sorry for himself. Whenever life knocks me down, I just get back up and keep going.” 

David was still smiling, but there was something strained about it. It was as though his face didn’t want to make the expression. Max didn’t say anything in response.

“I’ll be okay, Max,” David said after a few more seconds of silence. “Don’t you worry about me. I promise that everything will go back to normal from now on.”

He gently took the paddle back from Max. “Here, I’ll row us the rest of the way across the lake. Don’t worry about dessert. You can have mine.” David winked at Max, as though the prospect of a second helping of disturbingly lumpy pudding would be appealing in any way.

_ So that’s it,  _ Max mused as David whistled a cheerful tune.  _ David’s moved on. Just like that. Everything just goes back to normal. I guess that’s a good sign? Everything’s going to be okay from now on. _

_ Isn’t it? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks, everyone, for your patience! Now that I'm working on my projects again, I'm going to take this story to its bitter end. (AKA more David trauma) I'd always planned on once-a-week chapters, but that turned out to be impossible until now. So from now on, expect a new update every week until this horrible nonsense has come to a screeching halt!
> 
> That one odd sentence with big words is brought to you by an inside joke between Fazz and me about each other's prolixity.  
> Also because I sometimes have trouble dumbing down my vocabulary.


	9. Drunk & Disorderly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is plagued by his inner demons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Write the chapter today in a timely manner.  
> Also me: Stare at the doc literally all day without writing anything.
> 
>  
> 
> Thankfully, Fazz actually wrote about half of this a few months ago, so that took some of the pressure off of me for once. Yaay for friends!  
> ...I can't actually find her, so she probably doesn't know this has been posted yet. Oh well!

Gwen, unlike Max, knew something was wrong.

To be fair, she had fifteen years and a psychology degree that he did not. But it didn’t take a degree to understand that David’s sudden cheerful behavior was the opposite of good news.

Therefore, she was worried but not surprised when she found the empty bottle under David’s bed.

Also, David was nowhere to be found.

For the second time in a week, Gwen grabbed her tiny flashlight and steeled herself for a manhunt.

Even before the… thing, David had had a few hiding places he liked to use on the rare occasions he wanted to be alone. A hidden hammock behind the Quartermaster’s store; the attic above the storage room in the mess hall; a canoe on the empty lake.

David was none of those places.

Gwen’s anxiety quickly ratcheted up into Defcon 4. If David wasn’t in the camp, then…

The pitch-black depths of the forest loomed in front of her. With a tiny flashlight and a lot of ground to cover, she could only pray that she would be able to find him before dawn.

_ Unless it’s already too late,  _ the unwelcome voice whispered at the back of her head.

“Shut up,” she said aloud, and marched into the forest.

 

David was getting used to the bitter taste of alcohol. He stared wearily out onto the lake, waiting for the stinging to fade before taking another long sip.

_ Max would kill me if he sees me with this. _ David thought, staring at the bottle.  _ Gwen too. They’ll team up and kill me.  _

But he should be fine. Gwen was asleep, the kids were asleep. And safe from Daniel.

_ Are you sure?  _ A voice said in his head.

All the doubt in the world was in those three words. But David knew that Daniel was locked up somewhere far, far away from the kids. And there were policemen in the area to make sure that if Daniel somehow came for a visit, he’d be carted off before he did any damage.

But still, that voice persisted.

_ Look at you, you pathetic excuse for a human being.  _ The voice scolded,  _ You are no better than what you were like before. Before, you were an optimistic, naïve little shit. Now you’re a broken toy that keeps breaking. And you’re burdening a ten-year-old to repair you? How more pathetic can you be? _

“I never meant to…” mumbled David in response.

_ Some excuse. May I remind you that you almost got the children, the ones under your care, killed by an obvious maniac? _

David flinched.

_ You’re blinder than anyone in this cruel world. It’s like you don’t know how terrible and deceptive people can be. It’s like you see the whole damn world as some kind of wonderful place. It’s not. Life's a bitch. _

_ Now because of your way of thinking, look what almost happened. Daniel nearly murdered the whole camp  _ **_right under your nose._ **

David choked in a sob.

_ You never saw Daniel for what he was until he was literally carving a pentagram into your chest. Max saw what he was. ALL OF THEM SAW WHAT HE WAS. A cultist that wanted to sacrifice every single last one of your campers.  But you? Nah. Even when Max tried to warn you, you continued to think Daniel is a good guy. Even when he was pulling a knife on a child.  _

_ Do you still think he’s a good guy, David? _

David’s swollen and red eyes filled with tears, he felt the whole world around him, crushing him. The sky was covered with clouds. Everything was dark and cold. The water even more so.

_ Do you, David? _

David stared at his rippled reflection from the lake and closed his eyes.

“No.”

* * *

“David!” Gwen gasped in relief.

David nearly jumped out of his skin, dropping the bottle and letting out a very masculine squeal.

“Oh, thank God, I’ve been looking everywhere!” With the flashlight on his face, David couldn’t see Gwen, but her voice was thick with emotion. “Are you alright?”

“G-gwen!” David scrambled to think of an explanation that didn’t make him sound like a pathetic loser drinking on his own in the middle of the night. Nothing came to mind, as the evidence was spilled on the ground in front of him.

“What the hell, David?” Relief had obviously given way to irritation, as Gwen smacked him on the head with her flashlight. “You scared me half to death!”

Guilt bit at David’s heart again. No matter what he did, he just couldn’t keep from hurting everyone around him, could he?

Although, sneaking into the forest to get drunk in the dead of night was hardly the least selfish option.

Gwen heaved a sigh. David twitched in surprise as Gwen’s jacket was draped over his shoulders, and the log creaked as she sat down next to him.

“David,” she said in the voice he’d heard her use to lecture the kids. Then she paused and sighed. “Who am I kidding. I’m hardly the poster child for healthy coping mechanisms. If you want to run off and get trashed, I won’t stop you. Just… tell me where you’re going, yeah? So I won’t worry?”

“But… the campers…” David protested weakly.

“Hey, that’s why there are two of us, right?” Gwen elbowed him playfully. “If I can’t keep a dozen little monsters from killing each other, I wouldn’t be much of a camp counselor, would I?”

_ You couldn’t keep them safe _

“I know you just want things to go back to normal. I see how hard you’re trying to pretend you’re okay.”

_ Always be happy. Never let them see _

“But you don’t have to pretend for me, okay? I’m here for you, David. Whatever you need. You know that, right?”

_ You don’t deserve it _

David forced a faint grin. “Thanks, Gwen. You’re the best.”

Gwen wrapped one arm around him, giving him a brief squeeze. “I try. We should get back, though. It’s cold out here.”

Still faking a smile, David allowed Gwen to lead him down the path back to the cabin. He returned her jacket and bid her good night, retreating to his room.

Finally, his smile collapsed and his knees buckled. David sank to the floor against the door, hunched around himself in a shaking ball.

_ Gwen’s better than you deserve. She should hate you for failing everyone. She’ll hate you more if she knew how you feel now. _

_ Just keep pretending. Pretend for everyone and never stop. That’s what you’ve always done. _

_ That’s all you’re good for. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Post the chapter, then edit and revise it the next day so it'll be better.  
> Also me: Post the chapter, then don't look at it again even once. Post the next chapter, rinse, and repeat.


	10. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone sees something different when they close their eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Once a week" like what even is time anyway amirite
> 
> Welp, since my brain doesn't want to cooperate with me on the plot of this thing, here's a pointless chapter full of angst and sadness! Enjoy, you psychos!

_ Max could see the cabin through the dense forest, but no matter how fast he ran, it never seemed to get any closer. The barking of the rescue dogs and pursuing officers faced away in the background, and Max knew he was alone. Alone, and David’s only hope. _

_ Even before he threw the door open, he knew he was too late.  _

_ The stench of blood hit him like a physical blow. Lit by the candlelight in the depths of the shack’s basement, David’s mangled corpse stared sightlessly at the ceiling. Daniel, splattered head to toe in David’s blood, knelt next to the body and laughed his insane head off. _

_ With an inarticulate scream of rage and grief, Max launched himself at the cultist, only to pass right through him as though he wasn’t there. _

_ Daniel grinned at him as he scrambled to his feet, tilting his head with a sickening crack. “What’s wrong, Max?” he asked cheerfully. “Don’t worry, David’s safe in the loving embrace of Zeemuug! And he won’t be alone, either! You’ll be joining him soon enough.” Daniel’s hand felt solid as it picked up Max by the neck, but Max’s hands still passed through as he clawed at the arm. _

_ “Are you happy with your life? Are you at peace?” Daniel continued obliviously as Max strained to attack him. Or do you find yourself filled with anxiety and doubt?” _

_ “You maniac!” Max screeched. “You’ve brainwashed the entire camp!” _

_ “Brainwashed?” Daniel laughed as their surroundings changed. “No, no no. I just appealed to their emotions and showed them the light!  People don’t want to think, Max! They just want to feel safe. And feelings beat facts, any day!” _

_ Max backed up as white-clad campers advanced on him. But with no David to intervene at the last second, nothing stopped his former friends from holding him down and forcing the poisonous punch down his throat. _

_ Before Max’s vision went black, his limbs twitching spasmodically as the poison burned through him, he caught a glimpse of his friends cheerfully drinking from their own plastic cups. _

Max didn’t wake up with a gasp, because that’s not how dreams usually work. After that, the dream changed to a nonsensical scene involving Nikki marrying the platypus. But when Max did wake up, he couldn’t shake the feeling of terrified helplessness he’d felt when facing Daniel in his dream. 

It stuck in his mind for the rest of the day.

* * *

 

_ “Gwen!” Preston shouted from outside the cabin. “Nurf set Nerris’s tower on fire again!” _

_ “Hey Gwen?” Space Kid called, sounding distant. “I think the Quartermaster gave everyone food poisoning! Can we all use the bathroom in your cabin?” _

_ “Gwen?” David asked in a whisper from where he sat next to her on the couch. “Why weren’t you there when I needed you?” _

_ As she scrambled to figure out which problem to address first, Gwen’s cell phone rang. Automatically, she answered and held it to her ear. _

_ “Gavin, you’re a terrible camp counselor!” Cameron Campbell shouted. “We’re replacing you with a talking sock monkey, because it can do your job better than you!” _

_ “No…” Gwen said numbly. “What am I supposed to do now?” _

_ “Go work at Muffin Tops or something!” Campbell suggested sarcastically. “I don’t care, just get out of the camp before I send my Russian friends to run you out!” _

_ “And don’t even think of coming back home!” her parents, who were suddenly present, added. “If you can’t support yourself anymore, it’s your own damn fault for getting a loser degree and a loser job!” _

_ Max snickered from behind her. “Yeah, you say you have a psych degree and you can’t even tell David’s lying his ass off to everyone? He’s losing his mind right in front of you and you’re not even doing anything.” _

_ She flinched as a hand patted her shoulder. She turned to see Daniel, all dressed up in his pristine white clothes, grinning at her with that terrifying smile. _

_ “Don’t you worry, Gwen!” he said cheerfully. “You clearly can’t be trusted to take care of all this. Why don’t you go back on vacation, and it’ll all be over by the time you get back. Isn’t that what you usually do? Run away from your problems?” _

_ “No!” Gwen shouted, covering her ears. “Just shut up! All of you! I never wanted to- I tried to- I couldn’t-” _

_ Everyone converged on her, all accusing her at once. She hid her face, shouting to drown out the angry voices before they drowned her.  _

Gwen woke up with tears on her pillow.

* * *

_ As always, David’s dream began in the basement. _

_ Some days he felt as though he’d never truly left that basement. _

_ Every night, his mind replayed the same events in slow motion. Daniel, taunting and mocking him as he slowly came to grips with his own inadequacy. As he realized he hadn’t been as strong as he’d always thought; that he couldn’t conquer any problem with optimism and cheerfulness. _

_ In the end, everything he’d clung to had turned to nothing. _

_ The basement wasn’t even the worst part of the dreams. They always extended to the hospital, where David had been physically and emotionally crippled, forced to rely on Max and Gwen for everything. A ten-year-old child and his anxiety-riddled co-counselor, both of whom he’d always felt the need to protect, were now protecting him. _

_ He’d never felt more like a failure than during that first day in the hospital, when he’d finally realized how weak he truly was. He couldn’t face his problems alone as he’d always done, usually while helping everyone around him with theirs at the same time. _

_ His dreams turned to the camp, where everything was… fine. Nothing had self-destructed while he was gone. Business had continued as usual, as though no one had really needed him after all. _

_ (Would anyone care if I was gone?) _

_ His dreams turned to the future, which was now a bleaker place than he’d always pictured. What would he do from now on? Continue as a counselor, the job he’d always loved most in the world? When it was now a bleak, sad place with no joy left in it? Leave the camp and find somewhere to start over, where no one knew of his horrible failure? _

_ (Would anyone even notice?) _

_ Somehow, he couldn’t picture either of those things. _

_ (Would they all be better off without me?) _

_ Some days, he couldn’t picture anything in his future at all. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actually, I've been on vacation visiting my old neighborhood. Sorry I didn't tell anyone I was dropping off for a while, but it's been an emotional trip so far.


	11. Jasper the Friendly Ghost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David has a heart-to-heart with a long-lost friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I'M SO SORRY EVERYONE
> 
> In my defense, I broke my finger and couldn't type anything for a month!! After that, I just never found my groove again. BUT IT'S BACK
> 
> This chapter isn't what I was planning to publish next, but since the last episode, I couldn't ignore the new revelations about David's past. As such, this is a bit of a filler chapter (and there'll probably be another after this), but I've got plans for things to get interesting soon!

The night air was cool and perfectly still as David pulled the oars through the silent lake. Since Gwen had found his last hiding place, he’d had to find a better hiding place to get hammered in peace. Of course, he couldn’t let himself get carried away. The kids would still need him the next morning.

_Not that anyone really needs you_

Lately he’d been rowing himself out to Spooky Island on the nights that he knew the island would be deserted. It was far enough away that he’d be alone, and he liked the calm of the lake at night. Everything was so loud and busy during the day. Campers running around, explosions in the background, screams and squeals and chanting in ancient languages (mostly from Nerris).

But at night, it was just David and the moon and the dark water all around him.

_Just sink into it and never come back_

Quartermaster told the same stories about Spooky Island to the campers every year. David knew they were just meant to scare the kids away so Quartermaster wouldn’t be interrupted during… whatever it was he did, but David couldn’t help falling for the ghost stories a little bit.

That was, until he’d learned that sometimes the living were far, far more frightening than the dead.

David’s thoughts were drifting along with the boat, and he jumped slightly when the craft scraped the rocky shore of Spooky Island. Grabbing his bottle, David hauled himself out of the boat and pulled it further ashore. Within five minutes, he was stretched out on the cold ground against a tree, nursing the beginnings of a nice buzz.

It wouldn’t do to get completely hammered, though. That would leave him too hungover to properly lead the camp activities. And if there was one thing he was _never_ going to do, it was let down the campers in any way again.

As it was, he felt his brain beginning to fuzz as the Quartermaster’s pilfered alcohol began to work through him, taking the sharp edges off of his memories. Daniel’s grinning face, the searing pain in his chest, Gwen’s screaming… it all faded into the background along with the crickets.

“What’s up, homeskillet?” a voice piped up from behind him.

David jumped guiltily, twisting to see who had caught him. “I- I wasn’t- wait, who are you?”

The figure behind him looked young enough to be a camper, but there were no other boats on Spooky Island’s thin strip of beach. Besides, this kid didn’t look like anyone he recognized from the Wood Scouts or the other camps around the lake.

The kid broke into a grin. “Holy shnikes, it’s Davey! What’s the haps, man? I never see you on Spooky Island!”

David blinked hard a few times, trying to reconcile the evidence of his eyes with the insistence of his brain that _this was completely impossible._

“J… Jasper?” he finally said blankly.

Even as he said it aloud, he didn’t believe it. The real Jasper, wherever he was, would be David’s age now. He wouldn’t be on Spooky Island, and he certainly wouldn’t be identical in every respect to the camper David remembered. This child in front of him didn’t appear to have aged a day since David had last seen him.

Jasper’s smile turned shy. “Long time no see, huh, Davey?”

David’s mind was still struggling to catch up. “But… why- how are you here? How are you… _young?_ I haven’t seen you since your parents took you home so suddenly! How come you never came back to camp?”

The smile dropped off of Jasper’s face entirely. “Davey…”

“I really missed you, Jasper,” David said plaintively. “I never had the chance to apologize for being a bad friend when you needed my help.”

“Aww, Davey, I never blamed you for that. I was a bad friend too, after all. If I’d gone with you that day instead of chasing after Mr. Campbell’s secrets, I might still be…”

“Still be what?” David asked, confused.

“Never mind. I’m just glad you stayed out of that cave. You might have gotten hurt.”

“But I let you down,” David said glumly. “Just like I let down my campers and Gwen, and Mr. Campbell, and everyone else.”

“Davey, whatever happened, I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” Jasper reassured him.

“It was! I- I let a psycho into the camp, and I never even noticed my kids were in danger! He would have- they all could have-” David’s voice broke.

“But they’re okay, right? No one was hurt?”

“No one except me. But it’s no less than I deserved,” David said bitterly.

“Don’t say that, Davey,” Jasper implored. “You see the best in people. You always have. That’s not a crime. It’s what makes you special.”

“....I guess,” David finally said.

“Davey, I spent too long holding on to things when I should have let go. And I’m not any better off for it now,” Jasper said gently. “It’s too late for me now. But it’s not too late for you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just promise me that you’ll try to let go. Maybe you’ll be able to move on when it’s your time, the way I couldn’t.”

“Jasper-”

“Just promise, okay?” Jasper said insistently.

“Fine. I promise.” David crossed his arms, slightly irritable. “Happy?”

“Thanks, Davey. I hope you can do better with your life than I did.”

“Yeah,” David muttered, looking down at the now-forgotten bottle in his hands. “Wait, what do you-”

When he looked up again, Jasper was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

“David? Everything alright?” Gwen asked him the next morning. “You seem quiet today.”

David blinked at her a few times, trying to focus through his pounding headache. He really should try not to drink so much.

“Yeah. I’m fine,” he finally said. “Just… a weird dream, is all.”

“Okay,” Gwen said doubtfully. “You… you know I’m here for you, right?”

David smiled softly and bumped her shoulder with his. “Yeah, I know,” he said. “Let’s go get breakfast.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry again, I know a lot of people have been looking forward to this for a long time. But I promise I'll get the next chapter done in a timely manner! Thank you everyone for your lovely comments! <3


	12. Father Figure of the Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cameron Campbell visits his favorite campers and makes everything better, then makes everything worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BAAAAACK
> 
> I'm SO SORRY that it's been so long, but I promise I won't stay with the "four updates a year" schedule anymore. I have a lot of ideas planned and outlined, and I'm excited to finally get this going again!
> 
> I'd hoped to have this up on Halloween, but a close neighbor of mine passed away and I really wasn't in the mood to write for a while. Also, my eating disorder has been kicking my ass lately, which is why I've been gone for so long. But I'm getting a handle on things, so don't worry about me!

It was a normal day, as far as Camp Campbell’s definition of  _ normal. _

Max and Neil were on the roof, attempting to parachute off it with garbage bags taped together. Gwen was chasing Nurf and Ered across the camp, shouting at them for trying to set Nikki on fire again. Preston’s high-pitched voice echoed from somewhere as he practiced a monologue at the top of his lungs.

David was tuning up his guitar after weeks of disuse, humming a camp song. A mug of hot chocolate was balanced on his knee, wobbling with every motion of the guitar.

The peace was shattered by a shrill trumpet blasting the Canadian national anthem loud enough to cause a flock of birds to take flight from the trees. The campers screamed and scattered. David leaped to his feet, spilling his drink and dropping his guitar as a half-dozen massive moose stampeded from the tree line.

“Company, halt!” a familiar voice bellowed, and the herd came to a stop in unison. Astride each moose was an officer in a red uniform coat and lumpy hat. 

“Greetings, civilians!” the lead rider called, swinging off his moose and giving the camp a jolly salute. “What a pleasure to visit this idyllic camp I’ve never seen before!”

“M-Mister Campbell!” David scurried up to meet his mentor, eyes shining. “What are you-”

“Why hello there young man!” Cameron Campbell interrupted loudly. “You seem to have me mistaken for someone else.” He threw a heavy arm around David’s shoulders and propelled him swiftly away from the Mounties.

“B-but Mister Campbell-” David stammered.

“That’s Sergeant Major Dudley Dewlap to you, sonny!” Campbell said with a forced grin. “I’ve been a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for thirty years, like my father before me.” His eyes grew misty with feigned Canadian pride.

“I- okay…” David agreed weakly, and Campbell laughed heartily.

“Glad to hear it, Davey! Now why don’t you give me the grand tour of this wonderful and well-maintained summer camp?”

With another salute to his company of Mounties, Campbell led David away from their watching eyes. Despite asking David for the tour, Campbell made a beeline for the counselors’ office, manhandling David along with him.

“Mister Campbell, not that I’m not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?” David asked, happy but wary. The camp’s founder hardly ever visited his namesake unless he was bringing bad news or running from the law.

“Why, I’m here to see you, Davey!” Campbell sat in one of the two chairs, leaving a reassuring hand on David’s shoulder. “How’s my favorite counselor doing? I’ve been meaning to check up on you ever since I heard you were in the hospital, but I was deep in the Canadian wilderness eating raw squirrels and learning to communicate with badgers! Delightful miscreants, those badgers. Reminds me of myself as a youngster.”

David’s eyes shone. “You… came here for me?”

Campbell’s grin faded slightly. “I was sorry to hear about that nasty business with Daniel.” David flinched at the name. “Our camp’s safety standards can be, let’s say, subpar,” his eyes darted guiltily out the window in the direction of Spooky Island. “But I never want to hear about my best camper-turned-counselor in danger, Davey.”

“M-mister Campbell…” David choked before throwing himself into his mentor’s arms and breaking down in tears.

“Uhh….” Campbell froze, his hands hovering uncertainly before awkwardly patting David on the back. “There, there?”

David pulled back quickly, wiping his eyes on his sleeve with a sniffle before pulling himself together.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, staring at the ground. “I didn’t mean…”

Campbell stopped him with a raised hand. “It’s alright, Davey. You’ve been through a lot. But I’m sure you handled it admirably. I’ve never doubted you, son.” 

“S-son?” David squeaked. 

Before David had the chance to faint from happiness, Campbell slapped him hard on the back, toothy grin back in place. “That’s right, Davey! I wouldn’t leave you with all these miscreants if I didn’t think you could handle anything!”

David’s smile faltered slightly. “Well, I-”

“That’s right, none of these crazy kids is a match for you!”

_ Every single one of the kids had been in danger and David had never caught on _

Campbell didn’t notice David’s sudden discomfort. “No siree, all these kids’ lives couldn’t be in better hands!”

_ The wide scar on Max’s arm from Daniel’s knife, torn and bloodied hoodie hidden beneath the cot where he thought David wouldn’t find it _

“There’s no way you’d ever do anything stupid or irresponsible with all these defenseless kids around!” Campbell laughed heartily.

_ Gwen on the verge of an anxiety attack while David left her alone with the campers to go off and drink by himself, like the selfish monster he is _

“That’s right, you’re the most trustworthy and dependable man I’ve ever met, and there’s no one I’d rather have in charge of my camp!”

“M-mister Campbell, I-”

Campbell slapped him on the back one more time before standing up. “If there’s one thing I know about you, Davey, it’s that you will never let me down! Now, I can’t keep my unit waiting for long. Those moose can be an unruly bunch, you know.” he winked, as though they were sharing some sort of secret joke.

With that, Campbell was gone, leaping astride his moose and charging out of the camp with a Canadian war cry. David was left standing on the porch, feeling gutted and hollow.

“What was that about?” Gwen asked as she dragged a struggling Nikki away from the storage shed, wrestling a Tide pod out of her hands. She paused as she noticed the pained look on David’s face. “David? Are you okay?”

Nikki took advantage of the opportunity to make a dash for freedom, forcing Gwen to tackle her to the ground. By the time she looked up again, David’s frown was gone.

“Right as rain, Gwen!” He grinned at her. “It’s always great to have Mister Campbell visit us, especially when he brings friends along!”

Gwen scrutinized him for a moment, then decided it must have been her imagination. “Sure, it’s lots of fun to have him show up with the Feds on his tail, hiding evidence and stealing from our budget.”

“Now, Gwen, I’m sure he’s got great reasons for all of that! Now, let’s round up everyone for today’s arts and crafts camp!”

David’s cheery smile didn’t fade for the rest of the day, but his freshly tuned guitar sat forlornly in the corner, forgotten once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, but I wanted to get it published already. If anyone has suggestions for future chapters or if you'd like to see this one revised, just let me know! I definitely consider it a work in progress, so don't be surprised if it changes in the coming days. 
> 
> Thanks everyone for your kind words and patience!


End file.
